


Flicker to Life

by sedna_mode



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Injury, Major Character Injury, Post-Season/Series 07, The Blade of Marmora - Freeform, battle aftermath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 08:50:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15726036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sedna_mode/pseuds/sedna_mode
Summary: Krolia has been busy rebuilding the Blade of Marmora with Kolivan, but when the worst happens she knows she's needed elsewhere





	Flicker to Life

**Author's Note:**

> Something that struck me when watching season 7 was seeing Krolia and Kolivan at Keith's bedside in the final episode. How did they know to come? Here's my take on it
> 
> Unbeta'd and written in one go, any mistakes are my own

“Again!” Krolia barked, hands on hips and glaring at the two young Blades sparring before her.

They were part of a group she and Kolivan had recently tracked down; a handful of youngsters who had just barely joined the organization when everything fell apart, along with their handler. In order to survive the last two deca-phoebs they had gone so far underground—literally—that when Kolivan and Krolia extracted them and brought them back to the surface they had to blindfold the survivors lest their eyes be burned.

Her heart squeezed in sympathy as she watched the two sparring partners heave for breath and struggle to get into the proper stance, but she didn’t let it show on her face. She was pushing them hard, she knew, but she was driven by an ever-present sense of urgency. The Blade of Marmora _needed_ to recover, and recover fast.

Secretly, she was incredibly proud of what these young recruits and the rest of the survivors she’d found had accomplished in the short time they had been rebuilding the Blade. Everyone had the same steely fire in their eyes that told Krolia they were all aware of the stakes, and everyone was throwing everything they had into their work.

It reminded her of her son. He had the same eyes.

“Alright, enough. Arruk, with me,” she motioned an older member forward, and drew her— _Keith’s—_ blade. “I want you to watch us carefully, and pay especially close attention to the flow between defence and offence. You need to master the ability to seamlessly transition from one to the other.”

Blade at the ready, Krolia dropped into a slight crouch, rolling her shoulders to loosen them as she smirked at Arruk.

“Shall we show these kits how it’s done?”

Arruk bared her teeth in a sharp grin. “You know it.”

They circled each other for a few moments, sizing each other up, then lunged at the same time. Sparring with Arruk was easy, familiar, and they soon fell into a well-practiced pattern dodging and weaving and darting at each other like it was second nature.

For the sake of demonstration their moves were slightly exaggerated and slower than they would be in an actual fight, and they mostly kept to the more basic forms. Krolia let her mind go blank, allowing her body to flow through the movements on autopilot.

A sudden pulse from her blade broke through her concentration and she stumbled slightly, allowing Arruk an opening to knock Krolia’s defense open and surge forward to press the flat of her blade to Krolia’s throat.

“I’m surprised,” Arruk panted. “What was that, a demonstration of a rookie mistake that gets you killed?”

At the lack of reaction Arruk blinked and stepped back, pulling her blade away.

“Krolia? Is something wrong?”

Krolia stood stock still, staring intently at the blade in her hand. The young recruits were murmuring to each other, concerned with the sudden turn of events, but she didn’t hear them. A deafening roar filled her ears, drowning out her surroundings as her mind reeled.

She inhaled sharply and flew to the door, barely gathering enough composure to hand the lesson over to Arruk before she was gone.

As she ran through the halls of the base, the blade pulsed again and the bright glowing strip flickered slightly.

“No,” she breathed, as all the blood left her face and she stumbled into a wall for support. “Please, no.”

She burst into Kolivan’s chambers without knocking, catching him just as he pulled on his tunic.

“Krolia. What is the meaning of this?”

Her throat worked for a few seconds before she found her voice.

“Earth,” she croaked, holding out the blade. It flickered again. “We need to get to Earth. Now. _Keith-“_

Kolivan's eyes flicked from her face to the blade she held in trembling fingers, understanding instantly. Mouth settling into a firm line he strode from the room, Krolia at his side.

Together they ran to the hangars, Kolivan stopping only briefly to let the first person he met know he and Krolia had to attend to an emergency and to take care of the base while they were away.

Krolia ran ahead and started prepping the first ship she found.

“How fast can we get to Earth?” Krolia asked when Kolivan caught up.

“This ship can make hyperspace jumps but only small ones, and adding the time between jumps to let it recharge… it will be several varga, possibly up to a quintant.”

Krolia looked like she was going to argue, but her practical mind won out and she just clenched her teeth. It was the best option they had; the only option.

“Let’s go then.”

Without another word Kolivan settled into the pilot seat and guided the ship out of the hangar. Krolia sat next to him, cradling the blade in her lap, all senses trained on the bright strip that represented her son’s life force.

At some point between the third and fourth hyperspace jumps the glowing strip went entirely dark for a couple doboshes. Krolia gave a pained whine in the back of her throat, hunching over and clutching the blade to her heart.

“No, Keith. Don’t do this. Please, Keith, I can’t lose you like this, come on.”

Kolivan grit his teeth and pushed the ship a little harder, ignoring the red alarm icon that blinked at him as he overcharged the engine.

They reached Earth in just over half a quintant.

After the scare they’d had the blade had flickered back to life, its light dimmer than it should be but definitely there. The relief had been so powerful Krolia all but collapsed, a couple tears squeezing from the corners of her eyes.

Kolivan opened a hailing frequency as they approached the planet, and his eyes widened only slightly when Shiro appeared on the screen, dressed in an unfamiliar grey uniform and sporting a new Altean-looking arm.

“Kolivan, Krolia,” Shiro nodded at them. His eyes were ringed in dark circles and his shoulders drooped slightly, but despite his clear exhaustion he carried an air of purpose and responsibility.

“I might have known you guys would show up sooner rather than later. I tried contacting your base but they said you had already left. How did you know?”

“Keith’s blade.” Krolia held it up so it was visible on the screen. “It’s connected to his life force.”

“Right, I remember you mentioning something about that.”

“What happened here, Shiro?” asked Kolivan. “How is Keith?”

Shiro’s eyes flicked to the side as he bit his lip, and he suddenly looked years older. “Keith is… he’s in bad shape, but I think he’ll pull through. It was a little touch and go there for a while, he had us worried, but the doctors seem to be hopeful. He’s still unconscious though, in fact all the paladins are. Keith definitely got the worst of it, I think he was the closest to the blast.”

“The blast? Unconscious? But how did this come about?” said Krolia.

“It’s a long story, I can tell you all of it when you get down here. I’m sure you want to see Keith right away.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Shiro gave them directions on where they could land and signed off. As they descended toward the surface of the planet Krolia’s eyes widened. Everywhere she looked there were signs of destruction, evidence of a desperate battle of epic proportions. Large craters littered the ground, and most buildings sported at least some damage, if not were utterly destroyed. Debris was scattered everywhere, pieces of torn up Galra ships intermingled in the rubble.

Shiro was there when they landed, and the smile he greeted them with was tense and unhappy. The two Blades nodded in return, Krolia still clutching the blade whose light remained dimmer than normal but at least it had stopped flickering.

Shiro inclined his head toward the complex of buildings behind him, one of the few areas that appeared relatively intact.

“This way.”

He led them through a series of corridors; Krolia idly noted that people they passed stopped to salute Shiro. They crossed a set of double doors and the scent of disinfectant and blood assaulted Krolia’s nose. Shiro led them to the end of a hallway, pausing at an open door on the right.

“He’s in here. I have to warn you, he looks pretty bad.”

Mutely Krolia nodded and she pushed into the room, Kolivan at her back. She couldn’t help the dismayed gasp that escaped her at the sight of her son in the bed. The first thing she noticed was the multitude of tubes and wires connecting him to various machines and bags of liquid. A steady low beeping broke the silence and she guessed it was his heartbeat.

Keith’s wolf whined from where he had been curled up on the floor next to the bed, and he padded over to nudge at Krolia’s leg. She patted his head absently a few times before moving closer and sweeping her eyes up and down Keith’s still form.

Shiro had warned her, but nothing could have prepared Krolia for the state she found him in. It seemed like most of his body was wrapped in bandages, and what little skin was left exposed was covered in ugly bruising. His hair was a tangled mess under the bandage wrapped around his head and covering one side of his face. There were more wrappings on his chest and arms, and one of his legs was in a brace. The skin around his eyes was a dark purpleish black, contrasting sharply with the deathly pallor of his cheeks. He lay so motionless, if it hadn’t been for the steady rise and fall of his chest she might have thought she was staring at a corpse.

She didn’t know where it was safe to touch him, so she settled on lightly resting a hand on the knee that wasn’t in a brace. Kolivan came to stand next to her, a steady presence in a sea of turmoil.

“The good news,” murmured Shiro, “is that most of what you see is superficial bruising. It looks worse than it really is. The thing we were most worried about was the head wound and the internal bleeding, but the doctors managed to get that under control.”

“Tell me everything.”

Shiro sighed. “Of course. Maybe we should sit down for this, it’s going to get long.”

* * *

 

“… and there you have it,” said Shiro, some half an hour of explanations later. He looked more drained than Krolia had ever seen him. “After the lions crashed back to Earth it was a race against the clock to get out and retrieve the paladins and bring them back here for treatment. We’re just barely getting organized to start sending messages out to our allies and begin cleaning up and rebuilding. There’s so much to do, I never thought about the aftermath of a battle being more work than the fight itself.”

Kolivan had been mostly silent through Shiro’s explanation, but now he stood up from his perch on the window ledge and came over to look into Shiro’s face.

“How much sleep have you gotten since the battle?”

Shiro looked honestly taken aback by the question.

“… sir?”

“I’m going to assume that means none. You need some rest.”

“Rest? Are you—I can’t rest _now_ , there’s so much that needs doing. I need to coordinate with the Voltron coalition, negotiate deals for help with the reconstruction effort, check on my team…”

“Shiro,” Krolia interrupted, firmly. “You haven’t stopped for a single dobosh since the battle. And from what you tell me I’m sure you have your own injuries to deal with that you’re currently ignoring. You can’t carry everyone and everything on your shoulders. Things will not fall apart if you let yourself sleep for a few hours. Go.”

Shiro swallowed, looking lost.

“I don’t… I don’t know where… the wing my quarters were in was destroyed, I don’t have…”

Kolivan set a hand on Shiro’s shoulder, gently but firmly guiding him away.

“Then let us go find you a room, and you will sleep. A good leader needs to take care of himself too, otherwise he becomes a liability to his team.”

“Yeah, never been good at that,” Shiro mumbled as he let himself be led. He seemed to be deflating more and more by the second, the little energy he had left to keep pushing himself used up.

Just before he left the room he turned back to Krolia.

“You’ll call me, right? If he—if anything changes.”

She smiled. “Of course I will.”

As Kolivan and Shiro’s footsteps faded down the hall, Krolia turned back to Keith, eyes roaming over his face, letting the fact that he was _alive_ sink into her bones. She leaned over and pressed the lightest kiss she could manage to his temple, just under the bandage.

“You scared me so much.”

She settled back down into her chair to keep watch over her son, Kosmo’s head in her lap, and the knot of anxiety that had been squeezing her heart since the blade’s first flicker finally eased up.


End file.
